Bringing to light an entertaining array of anecdotes, this collection of police stories recalls some of the strangest, funniest, and most poignant accounts from the freeways, highways, and country roads throughout California. From the family who pulled over for a picnic on the median strip of a busy freeway to the angelic-looking 5-year-old girl who defused a tense traffic stop by sweetly confessing, "my daddy has a beer under the seat," this is an uncompromising view of the everyday pursuits, enforcement stops, arrests, accidents, and weird encounters that patrolmen must endure. Also featured is a panoply of unlikely drunk-driving suspects, including Santa Claus, a Boy Scout troop leader, a newlywed couple, and an airline pilot on his way to fly a plane; the traffic stop of an elderly driver whose license had expired 35 years earlier--and who explained he was on his way to the DMV; and many more hilarious, odd, and tragic stories of life and death on the open road. Encouraging a renewed respect for the men and women in uniform who risk their lives to protect the public, this compilation also contains advice on highway safety and how to behave when pulled over by a patrol officer.

A 101 quick interesting stories about traffic law enforcement life from patrolling the streets and highways encountered by an officer while working road patrol duties with the California Highway Patrol.

This collection of unabridged, unforgettable tales, written by some of science fiction’s most esteemed authors, pays homage to one of the genre’s most cherished story types. Whether time travel stories leap forward in time or slip into the past, they remain popular with fans. John Barnesspins a tale of intrigue as the principles of science are discovered centuries ahead of time while mankind is divided into classes (Com'n and Liejt) and the Irish people are slaves in “Things Undone.” Nancy KressAnne Boleyn and that of historians from a distant future to which pivotal historic figures are taken in order to prevent otherwise inevitable bloodshed in “And Wild for to Hold.” Ian R. MacLeodsends three time traveling historians from the future to rescue Captain Oatesfrom the doomed Scott party amidst the race to the South Pole in the early 20thcentury in “Home Time.” Tom Purdomsets historians from the future on a high seas adventure to document a 19thcentury British Admiralty anti-slavery patrol in “The Mists of Time.” Science fiction grand master, Robert Silverberg, slowly slides the fifty-seven year old owner of a Toyota dealership in the San Francisco Bay area backwards in time towards his birth in “Against the Current.” Allen M. Steeletells the story of how a U.S. Navy blimp crewmember happens upon time travelers while monitoring Soviet sea traffic around Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in “The Observation Post.” Michael Swanwickfollows the director of a dinosaur research center holding a timeline-polluting fund raiser located in the late Cretaceous period in the Hugo award winning story, “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur.” Genevieve Valentineobserves the detrimental effects of time travel on the timeline through the eyes of a seamstress whose wealthy patrons are obsessed with their time period costumes in “Bespoke.”

In the depths of the Sixties and The Days Of Rage, a young newsman, accompanied by his pregnant wife and orphaned teenage brother, creates a Paradise of sorts in a sprawling Venice Beach community of apartments, populated by students, artists, budding scientists and engineers lifeguards, poets, bikers with a few junkies thrown in for good measure. The inhabitants come to call the place "Pepperland," after the Beatles movie, "Yellow Submarine." Threatening this paradise is'The Blue Meanie, a crazy giant of a man so frightening that he eventually even scares himself.

The historic tales of the Sunflower State and its people are as interesting as the days are long. A pair of brothers went from making airplanes to tractors and soon became part of John Deere. Kansan Captain Donald K. Ross won the first Congressional Medal of Honor through his actions at Pearl Harbor. The first telephone exchange in the area was invented by a Mr. Strowger because a rival funeral director had a girlfriend who was an operator for the local telephone company and kept sending his business to her friend. Nannie Jones, who stood up to Jim Crow racism and won her case in court, is memorialized by a headstone at Highland Cemetery. Author Roger Ringer details these stories and more.

A fascinating 2005 study of the place of alternate histories of Nazism within Western popular culture.

With the elements against them, the state troopers of Alaska face every day with a fight for their lives. In the state of Alaska, anything goes. For the state troopers, an average day can include blizzard conditions, midnight sunsets, and subzero temperatures. Tales of the Alaska State Troopers gives insight to just how the brave men and women of the law combat these conditions while still upholding their duties to the fine people of Alaska. Follow trooper Dan Valentine as he finds himself in the midst of a crisis when an abandoned truck holds more than just an old blanket on the passenger seat. Dan’s responsibility for the town of Trapper Creek becomes a fight for survival when he realizes the truck has enough explosives in it to make a small dent in the Alaska Range. With his fellow lawmen, Valentine not only must handle the situation, but he must also make sure that the citizens of Trapper Creek are evacuated from harm’s way. Tales of the Alaska State Troopers is rich in content and action. Anyone familiar with the life of a lawman or the state of Alaska will be fascinated with the way Mathiesen delivers his narrative. It’s all in a day’s work for troopers like Dan Valentine, who never know what a new day can bring.

A collection of stories about Texas Rangers in which the author attempts to separate the myths surrounding these frontier lawmen from actual events.

A Tale of Two Bridges is a history of two versions of the San Francisco—Oakland Bay Bridge: the original bridge built in 1936 and a replacement for the eastern half of the bridge finished in 2013. The 1936 bridge revolutionized transportation in the Bay Area and profoundly influenced settlement patterns in the region. It was also a remarkable feat of engineering. In the 1950s the American Society of Civil Engineers adopted a list of the “Seven Engineering Wonders” of the United States. The 1936 structure was the only bridge on the list, besting even the more famous Golden Gate Bridge. One of its greatest achievements was that it was built on time (in less than three years) and came in under budget. Mikesell explores in fascinating detail how the bridge was designed by a collection of the best-known engineers in the country as well as the heroic story of its construction by largely unskilled laborers from California, joined by highly skilled steel workers. By contrast, the East Span replacement, which was planned between 1989 and 1998, and built between 1998 and 2013, fell victim to cost overruns in the billions of dollars, was a decade behind schedule, and suffered from structural problems that has made it a perpetual maintenance nightmare. This is narrative history in its purest form. Mikesell excels at explaining highly technical engineering issues in language that can be understood and appreciated by general readers. Here is the story of two very important bridges, which provides a fair but uncompromising analysis of why one bridge succeeded and the other did not.

In Making Trouble, leading scholars in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, womens studies, and social history explore the mediated cultural dynamics that govern image construction and understanding of a wide range of contemporary controversies (for instance, drug dealing, freight train graffi ti, anti-abortion violence, etc.). Edited within unifying central themes such as "situated media"; the evolution of policing and social control; and the gendered construction of crime, deviance, and control, Making Trouble marks a signifi cant expansion within this field.